


The Opposite of Smooth

by teslasward



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: AU Chubby Jack, AU Grad student Jack, M/M, Multichapter, Non-athletic Jack, chubby jack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-02-23 08:34:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13186350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teslasward/pseuds/teslasward
Summary: Jack Zimmermann is a 2nd year graduate student in chemistry at Samwell University.  Hockey's long behind him, despite his dad's fame and a successful career in high school. He's tried dating in the past, but superficial Grindr guys have knocked his confidence down a few notches. A Southern wind blows in, and he's not sure if he should be hopeful or cynical.





	1. Chapter 1

Squirreled away in a corner of the local Starbucks, Jack typed hurriedly, pausing momentarily to check careful notes scrawled in an ash-grey notebook.  His glacier-blue eyes scanned the page of neatly drawn chemical structures, darting back and forth until he stared at a single structure, circled it twice, then began scanning every database he had access to for something remotely similar.  After an hour of paging through Reaxys and SciFinder, he leaned back, looked at the notes once more, then began to pack his things up, another research proposal idea proved fruitless.  
  
As he stood up, laptop bag slung over his shoulder, he felt his pocket buzz.  

[Email]  
From: Gerard Montpeluche    
Subject:  Research Proposal  
  
Jack-  
  
As I’m sure you’re aware, graduate students are required to submit two independent research proposals as a condition for…

“Damn, as if I didn’t realize that.”  He abruptly swiped away the notification and hopped in line for a coffee refill.  “Psh.”   While the mom at the front of the line harangued the poor barista about the supposedly inappropriate level of whipped cream in one of her 7 drinks,  Jack glanced down at his phone again and noticed a reminder alert had popped up.    
  
“Next in line!” barked another exasperated barista.  
  
“Oh, I’m sorry!” Jack said, tearing his face up from the screen. “Uh, can I have a medium coffee and a raspberry scone?”   The barista quickly punched in the order and Jack swiped his card. “Thank you, have a wonderful day.”  
  
“You too!” she chirped back.  
  
Walking back to his corner, Jack noticed a muscular blonde boy sitting in the pleather armchair, nursing what appeared to be a caramel brûlée latte, a few stray wisps of blond hair poked out of  his backwards baseball cap. Pulling out his earphones and looking up, “Hey can I hel–  Jack?”   His eyes and mouth widened into a smile.    
  
“Kent? Kent Parson?” He smiled and rushed in a with a hug, “It’s been so long.”  His phone beeped disruptively, refusing to silence the earlier reminder. “Sorry, one sec.”  Taking a swig of coffee, he weaseled out a small prescription bottle, tapped out a small pill and swallowed it, chasing with a bite of scone and another sip of coffee. Looking up,  he noticed Kent’s smile had faded slightly to a weak grin.    
  
“Why don’t you join me Jack? You look good!”  Kent pulled over a nearby armchair and shoved the end table back to make room.    
  
Jack slipped the bottle back into his bag and plopped himself down, placing his coffee and scone on the displaced table. “You too, Kent.”    
  
“How long has it been? Like 3 years now?  I think the last time I saw you was at your dad’s charity shootout in Edmonton.” Kent leaned forward grinning and rested his elbows on his thighs.  
  
“I think so.”  His eyes darted quickly between Kent’s hands and eyes, fighting to keep eye contact.  “S-so what are you doing out here?” he asked, gingerly sipping his coffee.  
  
“Got a big game against the Falconers this week,  decided to fly out early and have some time to get situated before the rest of the boys get here.”  He gave Jack a quick once-over. “So, do you still play at all? I didn’t keep up with if you played in college.”  
  
Jack chuckled, “No, not much.  I haven’t played competitively at all since we did together before high school.”  He took a bite of the scone, knocking some crumbs into his lap, “I’ve made the transition from jock to nerd.”  
  
Kent chuckled, “Fair enough, Zimms.”  Looking down, he noticed his latte was primarily ice at this point, but just gave a loud obnoxious slurp for good measure. “So, in that case, if you’re not doing hockey anymore, what flavor of nerd have you evolved into?”  
  
“Chemistry. Grad school at Samwell. Can’t you tell from the dad-bod and pale skin?”  Jack smirked,  “This is what the kids are callingl the prime laboratory physique.”  
  
“You’ve always been pale, asshole. Now you just have an excuse.”  Kent punched him lightly in the shoulder.  
  
“Fair. Points for all.”    
  
They sat quietly for a couple seconds before Kent pulled his phone out of hoodie.  “Shit.  Sorry, Zimms, gotta run.  Meeting a friend for a movie in few.”  He quickly gathered his cup of ice, and stood up to leave.  Jack was looking straight ahead, but jerked his head to look at Kent.  
  
“Oh?”  Slightly taken aback by the abruptness. “Okay.” He gave a weak smile and stood to face Kent.  Kent yanked him into a hug and patted him on the back a couple times before pulling back.  

“It was good seein’ ya man, shoot me a text if you want to get a beer or something this week.”  Jack smiled and leaned down to his notebook. “Will do, Kent.”    
  
As he was walking away, Kent pivoted back to face Jack.  “Zimms.”  Jack looked intently at him.  “Take care of yourself, okay?”  Kent mimed a boy scout salute at Jack as he ambled out the large glass doors.  
  
Jack sighed deeply, before opening his laptop and getting back to work.

 

* * *

 

 

Later that night Jack laid in bed with his laptop perched on a pillow next to his belly.  Grabbing his phone from the nightstand, he clicked open Grindr, scanning through the nearby torsos, faces, and blank profiles.  The message alert sounded.  
  
[Grindr message]

Sorry dude, you seem really like a really nice guy,  but I’m looking for someone a bit more fit and active.  No offense. :P

 

“Asshole.” Jack screenshotted the message and quickly opened up a chat with one of his friends, sending it off.  He typed, _See what you’re missing in the wonderful world of non-straight dating? Haha_ .  In a few seconds, the phone dinged.  
  
[Larissa Duan]:   _Fuck that guy. Men suck. I’m over men._

 

[Jack]:   _You’re dating a man, aren’t you?_ _  
_ _  
_ [Larissa]: _Yeah_ ,  he’s okay I guess.  

 

[Jack]: _Truly, you two are the peak of modern romance._

 

[Larissa]: _You say this as he walks past and burps so loud I think my glass of water shivered._

 

[Jack]: _Majestic. That’s all any of us can hope for._

 

He smirked and swiped the chat bubble out of view on his phone, reopening Grindr.  A new profile popped up pretty close by, a little blonde guy, in sparkling red shorts and a striped tank top. “Hmm.”   

 

_Baker. Blogger.  Unexpected hockey convert. Who is your favorite pop-diva? There’s only one right answer._

Jack chuckled, and clicked the message bubble after checking that the owner of the profile was offline.

  
[Jack]: _Your profile made me laugh.  Is Carly Rae Jepsen the correct answer? :)_  

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning, Jack was making his daily stop at the campus Starbucks.  Quickly mixing in his cream and sweetner, turned to grab a lid when he saw a flash of blond hair out of the corner of his eye.  He turned to bring the guy into his glasses’ field of view and quickly recognized the face in profile.  Jack quickly gathered up his things and opted to not toast his bagel to slip out of sight into his corner.

 

Sitting down, his phone was out and Grindr opened to see if he’d received a reply.

 

[Mystery blonde]: _Hmm, haven’t heard of her.  Miss Beyoncé Knowles was the correct answer. Bless your heart._

 

Jack scoffed, switching to a chat with Larissa.  

 

[Jack]: _Larissa, you have to back me up on this. Carly Rae Jepsen, she is a gay icon, no?_  
  
[Larissa]:  I mean,  obviously.  

[Jack]: _I think a small blonde boy just flirted with me while also telling me I’m wrong.  (picture attached)_

[Larissa]: _Oh, oh Jack._ _  
_ _  
_ [Jack]: _What?_  
  
[Larissa]: ‘Bless your heart’  is a Southerner’s way of essentially saying ‘Fuck you’, but more eloquently.

[Jack]: _Putain._  

[Larissa]: _Language!_

[Jack]:  ;)

 

“ ‘Scuse me. I couldn’t help but notice you over here.”   Jack jerked his head up from the phone to notice a pair of big brown eyes staring at him.   

“Oh.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Oh”  Jack stumbled over his words, nearly dropping his phone, “Um, hello.”   His eyes flitted in and out of eye contact with the imposing, yet tiny boy before him.    
  
The stranger pursed his lips in a decidedly neutral, but inquisitive fashion, looking quickly down at his phone before scrolling up. He turned the phone to face Jack.  It was Jack’s Grindr profile.  “Is this you?”

Jack blanched. The picture was of him slightly smiling at the camera from an angle, clearly a selfie, while seated at a desk piled high with papers and notebooks, but also quotes and pictures.  He’d chosen the angle to highlight his face without showing too much of his body.  One could see a well-fitted cardigan draped over a plain t-shirt, but not much more than that.  Jack told himself he’d kept his self-consciousness about his body in check, but nothing gave it away quicker than this profile.  Under the various parameters Grindr gave one to characterize themselves, Jack had listed himself as ‘Stocky’ rather than average, partially as a metric to rule out image-obsessed assholes looking for their Adonis, but folks still got through.   His profile text was milquetoast by his own admission, but thought it was true to form.   
  
_PhD student in chemistry.  Quebecois.  Yes, I have seen Breaking Bad._   
  
“Beg pardon, is this you?”   
  
“Oui, yes, yes it’s me.”  Jack snapped back to reality. “Erm, why do you ask?”

 

The stranger smirked and snapped his fingers, “I knew it!” He pulled out a chair at a nearby table and plopped himself down, taking a moment to adjust his legs like a chicken getting ready to roost. Jack grinned at this overly elaborate sitting ritual. “Well, I have to say, normally, I’d fight anyone who doubts the power of Queen B.”   
  
Jack breathlessly giggled, “But…? That sounds like a leading sentence.”  This earned him a finger shaken mock-angrily at his face.     
  
“Kindly let me finish talkin’ then!”  He exhaled, his words drenched in passive-aggressive Southern venom.  “As I was SAYING… But, Ms. Carly Rae Jepsen can certainly carry a catchy tune... or 20.”  

 

A smile cracked across Jack’s face and his shoulders relaxed slightly from the cramped fight or flight posture he’d lurched into when the boy came over.  “One question. Emotion or Emotion: Side-B?”  He grabbed his coffee cup took a long sip while waiting for the answer.   
  
“THERE’S A SIDE-B?”     
  
Jack quickly put his arm over his mouth to prevent himself from spitting coffee all over this nice boy, swallowed, then laughed heartily.  “Yes, yes there is.  I think it’s arguably better than the original.”   
  
The blonde sat mouth agape for a second before collecting himself.  “Well, that is certainly good to know Mr…?”   
  
Jack smiled and extended his hand,  “Zimmermann. Jack Zimmermann.”  They shook.  “And whose horizons have I broadened through the power of Canadian pop?”   
  
“Eric Bittle,” he chirped, “but my boys call me Bitty.”  He doveishly brushed a few stray hairs out his eyes while saying this.   
  
Jack’s eyes widened with shock, “Wait, you are a father? Of how many?”

 

Bitty shook silently for a half-second before bursting into an outright cackle, drawing concerned looks from the other patrons. Wiping a tear from his eye he choked out, “Oh sweetie, I’m not a dad! I’m just on the hockey team! The boys are my teammates!”

Jack let out a sigh of relief,  “I was about to be both impressed and terrified. N-not that there’s anything wrong with students being parents or—”   

“Breathe, mister. Don’t worry!” He patted Jack gently on the knee.  “No harm at all.”

Shyly looking down, Jack continued, “So, which position do you play on the team?”      
  
Bitty scooted his chair a little closer.  “How much do you know about hockey? Your profile said you were a PhD student.”     
  
Jack smirked,  “Ah, so you read it.”  He grabbed his phone and started thumbing through photos while talking.  “My dad was in NHL, I played for a bit when I was younger, but I decided it wasn’t for me.”     
  
Bitty’s eyes widened. “Wait, your dad was in the NHL? Was he famous?”     
  
“Kind of.  Wikipedia probably tells it better than I do, stories have never been my strong point.”     
  
Bitty grabbed his phone and furiously typed in “Zimmermann NHL”, only to be barraged by hundreds of thousands of results. “Oh my lord! Your dad was a Stanley cup winner? That’s crazy!”   
  
“I’m kind of surprised the last name didn’t give it away since you play hockey.”  He stifled a chuckle. “Usually after that I get assaulted with question after question.”   
  
Bitty shrugged, “I’ll have you know that I have a _perfectly_ legitimate excuse for not knowing!”   
“Oh?”   
  
“I only started playing hockey when I came here.  I was a figure skater and played a bit, but ended up netting a hockey scholarship, heaven knows how.”  He shook his head in seeming disbelief at his own fortune.   
  
“Wow, that is...not a transition I think I’ve seen before.”  Jack smiled, “It’s like studying space for 4 years then switch to biology for PhD.”     
  
Bitty jumped in, “Which reminds me,  you said you’re a PhD student in chemistry. What year are you? To be honest I don’t even know how many years those things usually are.”   
  
Jack pushed up his glasses. “I’m a second year.  Usually people in my group graduate after 5 to 5 ½ years.”   Just as he finished his sentence, his phone beeped loudly.  Flipping it over, he noticed an email notification.  “Just a second, I just need to check this.”   
  
[Email]   
From: Gerard Montpeluche     
Subject:  Research Proposal Meeting   
  
Jack-   
  
Let’s meet today at 11. I have to get lunch with a faculty candidate at 12, but an hour should be plenty.   
  
À bientôt,   
g-.   


Jack checked his phone, noticing that it was about 9:30.  He tucked his phone away and turned to Bitty.  “I’m so sorry to cut this short, but I have a meeting with my advisor shortly and need to prepare some things.  Bitty, it was really nice meeting you. I hope I see you again soon.”  Leaning down to grab his bag, Bitty caught his arm on the way back up.    
  
“It was.” He smiled, “See you soon.”  Jack nodded and began to walk towards the door, only to hear Bitty shout after him. “Wait! Let’s exchange numbers so we don’t have to talk on that infernal thing.”

  
Jack  turned around to meet his gaze, smiling. “Okay. Sounds good to me.” They swapped phones, entering each others information.  Jack’s phone beeped again, disruptively.  “Okay, I really have to go this time, but I will text you. _Bon journée._ ”   
  
“I don’t speak French, but you too!” 


	3. Chapter 3

Jack hurried down the winding path to the laboratory buildings, pulling out his phone to message Larissa.     
  
[Jack]:   _ Are you ready to be wrong?  ;)   _ _   
_ [Larissa]:  _ About what? Black liquorice being awful? I don’t trust that wink. No.  _

[Jack]:  _ The Grindr guy, the blonde one, he came up to me in the Starbucks and talked to me. _

[Larissa]:  _ To accost you for not thinking Beyoncé is the best thing since indoor plumbing? _

[Jack]:  _ No,  it was nice. He was cute and frustrated that he didn’t know about CRJ before my message.  Ended up swapping numbers.  _

[Larissa]:  _ Jack Laurent Zimmermann!  _

Jack snickered. 

[Jack]:  _ Well, he gave me his number as I was leaving and already had said goodbye.   _

[Larissa]:  _ That seems a bit more on-brand if I’m being honest. <3   _

[Jack]:  _ It is before 10 AM and yet you attack me.   _

[Larissa]:  _ Only because you know it’s true. Xoxo _

[Jack]:  _ And what about your man? Still charming you with his bodily noises?  _

[Larissa]:   _ He would be if he didn’t have hockey practice this morning. That probably just means he’s traumatizing the team with them instead of me. #cheating _

[Jack]:  _ Oh! And the blonde boy, Eric Bittle,  is on the hockey team.  I meant to tell you first thing.  _

[Larissa]:  _ Innnnteresting.  I’ll have Shitty do recon.   _

[Jack]:  _ Wait, you never told me his name was Shitty.  How are you dating someone named Shitty?  _

[Larissa]:  _ *banging.  Very different. He has moments of depth.  _

[Jack]:  _ Are you sure you don’t mean girth?  _

[Larissa]:  _ I hate you so much. <3 Late lunch?  _ _   
_ [Jack]:  _ Sure, I have a meeting with Gerry about RPs at 11AM.  Let’s do 1:30.  _

 

Jack held his ID up to the scanner and quickly shuffled inside the lab building,  making his way to his desk in the Montpeluche lab.  Whereas better funded departments had largely switched to separating desk and lab space,  the Grenier building retained the older layout: Fume hoods and benches for all aspects of chemistry with one for each graduate student,  and then a row of cubicle-esque desks hugging large bay windows overlooking a scenic parking lot.  Walking up to his cluttered corner, Jack set his bag on the chair and stripped off his cardigan.  The gigantic man in the comically undersized desk chair opposite his turned around to greet him.     
  
“Zimboni! You here! I was worried about you.  Don’t be worry, Gerry hasn’t come through or anything. Is good.”  His accent was still thick with central Russian iron. “I brought you  бутерброд колбаса.  Went to store yesterday.”      
  
Jack smiled. He’d really lucked out having Alexei as a deskmate.  Bucking the common perception of Russians as impersonal or cold, it was very rare for Alexei to greet Jack with anything but a crushing hug and something to eat. “Alexei, you know you don’t have to do this,” he began, prompting Alexei to stand, towering over him, “but I am always so glad you do. Thank you.”     
  
Alexei’s face broke into a smile immediately and he gave Jack a tight hug. “Good! Eat, then we do chemistry.” He quickly sat back down at his desk, hunching slightly as he typed.  Jack hadn’t expected them to be such good friends when they started at Samwell together a few years ago. Alexei was from Magnitogorsk,  the beating heart of the Russian steel industry, a bustling conservative blue-collar town,  Jack was raised near Montréal, nuzzled comfortably in the bosom of the upper crust, as the child of a supermodel and world famous hockey star. Hockey was one thing they did have in common.  Alexei played professionally for Metallurg Magnitogorsk, before a career-ending knee injury spurred him to instead focus on his studies.      
  
Jack took a bite of the delicious open-faced sandwich and opened his notebook, writing out a few reactions he planned to set up that day: a quick amine protection,  then a Suzuki coupling, maybe a pair of Sonagashira couplings if time allowed.  He looked at his phone,  _ 10:02 AM _ , and sighed.

  
  


Drained, Jack strolled back into the lab, prompting the usual loud greeting from Alexei and a few waves from the others.  He settled at his desk and opened the thin grey notebook to page through his notes from the meeting.  He glanced at his phone  _ 12:13 PM  _ and smirked,  “Well, only and hour and 13 minutes. Not too bad.” 

 

Alexei chuckled and interjected without turning around, “Yes, sure, but how much actually on topic? 10 minutes?” 

 

“No, today was a good day, a full 30 minutes on topic. Didn’t stop him from being late to meet the speaker though.” 

 

“And you are surprise? Tk tk tk, should know better.”   Jack felt a heavy hand pat him on the back.  “You set up coupling reaction yet?  I was going get argon balloons if you want. How much?”     
  
Jack smiled and turned to look up at him,  “That’d be great Tater, thank you. Two balloons. They’re in my top drawer over there.”   Alexei smiled and grabbed his lab coat perched atop the cubicle walls and pulled a pair of well-worn goggles from the pocket.     
  


Jack felt his phone buzz as Alexei walked out.  _ Larissa _ .  

 

[Larissa]:  _ So have you texted him yet?   _

[Jack]:  _ Such confidence in my flirting skills.  No, not yet, though I have been in a meeting.   _

[Larissa]:  _ How’d that go?  _

[Jack]:  _ Usual routine. 90% Gerard 10% me.  Got a few good suggestions though.   _

Jack tucked his phone into his pocket and slipped on his lab coat and goggles before heading to the chemical stockroom to grab the palladium catalysts and anything else he needed to set up. He walked over to the shelf and noticed the little bottle of dark orange powder was missing.  Cocking an eyebrow, he pivoted to the logbook and saw that Larissa had checked it out earlier.     
  
[Jack]:   _ You come into my house, you steal my Pd(OAc)2.  How dare you _ .

[Larissa]:  _ Revenge for burning down the White House in the War of 1812 _ .    
  
Jack put his laptop in the drawer of his filing cabinet and left a note for Alexei:

_ Larissa took my palladium. Getting it back.   _

Jack locked the lab door and walked briskly down the long hallway and down the wide spiral stairs to the basement floor.  He walked past two labs before finally reaching his destination.  Larissa was perched at her bench with a multi-channel pipette, preparing a gel. Kesha was blasting through the speakers in the background.  She must’ve caught him out of the corner of her eye bc she pivoted on the stool.  

 

“Well if it isn’t Mr. Smooth himself,” she chirped at him, “To what do I owe this pleasure?”     
  
“You work in a biology lab, you don’t need palladium acetate.”     
  
She smirked mischievously, “Easiest way to get you to come down here.”  Gesturing with her thumb over her shoulder, she pointed out the squat bottle. “So, before you get these going... coffee/lunch break?” 

 

He sighed, then smiled. “Okay, let me just text Alexei that I’ll be back in a bit.  He was getting some argon for me.”  

 

[Jack]:  _  Hey Tater, sorry I’m not back. Decided to go grab lunch quickly.  Be back soon.   _

The phone buzzed a moment later.    
[Alexei]:  _ Is good. Balloons at your bench.  <3 Yum ))). :x ;) :-*  _ __   
__   
Larissa was peeking over his shoulder at the text, “Are you sure you’re not dating him?  I know I ask you regularly, but you two are disgusting.”   He laughed heartily.  

 

“Alexei? No, he just doesn’t understand emojis sufficiently.  I’m still not sure what the 3 parentheses are supposed to be,  he’s used it since we met. Too afraid to ask at this point.”  He noticed she was looking at her phone and he leaned over to glance at the texts. “So does Shitty speak how he types? I can picture the personality now.” 

 

“Hypocrite.” she jabbed him in the gut with her elbow. “And yes.  He spouts wisdom interspersed with bro language while naked.”   

 

“That’s… a lot to take in.” Jack stuttered.    
“That’s what I said.”  Larissa winked and mimed finger guns at Jack. 

“I hate you.”   Jack gave her a side hug and they walked out of the lab. 

  
  



	4. Chapter 4

Jack rolled over to silence his alarm clock. “Putain.”    _ 7:15 AM.   _ He still had about half an hour before having to catch the bus across town.  Standing up, he walk over to the bathroom and ran a hand through his messy bedhead.  He looked at his reflection and slowly traced a few of the silvered stretch marks on his stomach, sighing.  Just then, his phone buzzed.     
  
[Kent]:   _ Hey Jack,  got some news for you.   _ Jack eyed the text skeptically before deciding to respond. 

[Jack]:  _  What’s up, Kent?  _

[Kent]:   _ I’m going to get traded to the Falconers.  Just signed the deal, so I’ll be moving near you bud.  Right in your neighborhood.  _

[Jack]:   _ Oh, that’s great. Congratulations!    _

Jack rubbed his temples and began drumming his fingers on the bathroom vanity.   

[Kent]:  _ Thanks!  We’ll have to meet up when we I get settled.  _

He sent a brief  _ Sounds good _ before closing the chat window and sighing deeply.     
  


Pulling on a pair of jeans on,  Jack packed up his things and headed out to the bus stop. 

 

Walking down the street near the limits of Samwell’s campus, Jack passed a run down house with a porch.  Even though it was April,  there was an inflatable pool in the yard sitting under a giant oak tree, full of water.  He heard a few loud voices shouting from the street and when he looked up, a full naked man ran by one of the windows. A crude wooden sign was leaned against the mailbox. It just read  _ HAUS _ .  Distracted, Jack tripped on a crack in the aging sidewalk, catching himself on his arms, but not without losing his glasses. 

 

He heard frantic footsteps coming towards him and looked up to see who it was.  Without glasses, all he could make out was that the figure was blonde and probably male. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?”  He recognized the voice instantly. 

 

“Bitty? Palming the ground for his glasses, he quickly found them, pushing clarity up the bridge of his nose. Eric grabbed his arm and helped pull him to his feet. 

 

“Mr. Zimmermann, what on god’s green earth happened?!”  Eric’s face was riddled with concern   
  
Jack grabbed his bag and brushed off the dust on his jeans.  Turning to face Eric he said, “I’m not sure, I think I tripped on something. I’m okay though.” He smiled.  Bitty smiled right back at him, patting him on the shoulder.    
‘Well, I’m glad you’re okay.  Wouldn’t want you getting all roughed up before I had a chance to see you again, mister.”    Jack’s eyes widened and he frantically pulled out his phone.   _ 8:08AM _ .  “What’s the matter? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” 

 

Jack chuckled, “No, no, nothing like that. Was just worried I’d missed my bus across campus.” 

 

Bitty chirped back, “Oh! I’m taking that one too. Stopping for coffee on your way in?” 

 

“Only because the caffeine pills don’t have the same satisfaction of drinking a large coffee…”  Bitty smirked, “and,  the company is good… sometimes.”    Bitty’s smile turned instantaneously to mock fury. 

 

“Sometimes?  I’ll have you know that I am a Southern gentleman and a peach, a true pleasure to be around thank you very much.”  His words were punctuated by the finger shakes of a disappointed mother.  

 

Jack smiled and started walking towards the stop at the end of the block with Bitty following close behind.  “Peach, eh?  Interesting.”  He glanced over to see Bitty turn scarlet with embarrassment.  Just then, the bus pulled up to the street corner and both boarded.  The two of them were silent for the first few minutes of the journey until Jack interjected with a  _ mea culpa _ ,  “Sorry for the double entendre joke, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”      Bitty turned to look at him and burst out laughing.  

 

“Oh darlin, I wasn’t uncomfortable at all.  I was just dumbstruck by such a laser-guided read.”  Jack laughed along with him. “You sure you don’t moonlight as a drag queen?”    
  
“Though I have the hips for it,  I don’t know if anyone wants me telling science jokes in a wrap dress.”   

 

Bitty leaned forward with fist clenched on his knees,  the smile dropped and he was dead serious.  “Anyone who doesn’t want to see that is a damn fool.”   Jack looked away shyly, noticing that their stop was next.  He pulled the stop signal and both disembarked in front of Starbucks.   Jack went to head into the building when Bitty stopped him, “Watch out, don’t want you tripping on air again.” 

 

“There was a crack. My foot simply slipped into it. That’s all!.”  Jack didn’t even catch what he was saying until Bitty erupted in laughter.  “Oh, merde.” 

 

“That’s karma getting you back for your peach dig, mister!”   Jack shook his head and moved to hold the door for Bitty while he walked inside. 

 

By some miracle, there wasn’t a line and both had their drinks in a hot second.  Bitty followed Jack to his dedicated corner and plopped down in the pewter pleather armchair next to Jack’s.  Jack had gone for his usual large coffee and a breakfast sandwich, but opted to get a scone as well.  As he took a bite of the steaming sandwich, he caught Bitty eyeing it intently.  “Would you like a bite?”     
  
This caught Bitty off-guard. He stuttered out, “N-no, thank you though.  I usually make myself eggs at the house before leavin.  I don’t usually eat out for things I like to make.”     
  
Jack wiped his mouth and shot back, “I’m a terrible cook, so unless it’s cereal or something like that, hopeless. I eat near the chemistry building for most of my meals since I work late.”   

 

“I guess I just don’t even really know what y’all do.  Classes? I just don’t know.”  He shrugged. 

 

“Usually, most finish their classes by the end of second year. I took a few extra in my first so I’m done early.”  He took another bite of the eggwich, chasing it with coffee.  

 

Bitty looked puzzled, “So, if you’re done with classes, what do you do next? Graduate?”    
  
Jack covered his mouth and swallowed hard before chuckling back, “No, no.  After that we do research, independent proposals and the defense.  Doesn’t sound like much, but takes a while.”    
  
Bitty nodded and sipped his caramel brûlée latte.  “Sounds more like a job than school.” 

 

“Pretty much, a job plus some extra stuff.”  Jack reached into his bag to grab his prescription bottle and tapped out a pill while asking, “What do you study?” He swallowed with a few gulps of coffee.  

 

Bitty looked away meekly and rubbed the back of his head,  “Well...I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to study. Food’s my passion, so I chose to do American Studies, with a concentration on food.” 

 

Jack smiled, “So I’m going to hazard a guess that you cook then?”   A chill ran up his spine,  he could sense Bitty was about to explode with something and he braced himself.     
  
“I bake!  Desserts mostly, pies are my specialty.”   He smiled coyly.  “So don’t eat storebought pie in my presence if you like your hands.” 

 

Jack laughed nervously, “Ha, yeah, well I mostly eat cookies from the store anyway not pies.”   His phone beeped a few times and looking down he noted it was nearly  _ 9:00 _ .  “Shoot, I have to go into lab very soon to check on my reactions.”  

 

“How soon?”  

 

“Probably need to start walking now I think.”  Jack’s eyes sunk and the smile faded.  “I’m sorry I’m doing this again, grad student life is trying, but thank you for riding in with me! Maybe I will see you tomorrow morning.”     
  
Bitty smiled weakly back,  “Oh, okay.  Yes, it was pleasure as always Jack.”   

 

Jack waved and darted out the glass doors.     
  
Bitty felt his phone buzz.  

[Jack]:  _ Sorry I’m such a shithead,  maybe can we grab lunch tomorrow?   _ Bitty shook his head and giggled breathlessly before responding.    
[Bitty]:   _ Okay, but my choice.  Let’s go to Annie’s over on 3rd.  _

[Jack]:  _ D'accord, ça a l'air bon.  ;)  _

[Bitty]:  _ You know I don’t speak French!  _

[Jack]:  _ Utiliser Google Translate.  :devil:  _   Bitty hmph’d “The nerve!”  

[Bitty]:   _ Merci :)  _

 

Jack’s phone dinged as he entered the lab.  He smiled. 


	5. Chapter 5

“It’s Jack! Hello Jack!!! Woo. How you do man?” Alexei was as enthusiastic as always in greeting Jack. 

Jack smirked and waved meekly at Alexei, he noticed the others had mostly ignored the large Russian. “Good! How about you Tater?” Walking to his desk he placed the bag down and opened his notebook. 

“Is good.” Alexei took a big bite of a бутерброд piled high with at least three different kinds of meat. Responding with his mouth full, “Yesterday ran esterification, so easy. Today I’m run a NHK coupling, need to get some chromous chloride from box, hopefully not green otherwise no good!” A few crumbs flew out onto the desk. He swallowed. “You looked happy when you walk in. What happened?” Alexei raised an eyebrow and chuckled. 

Jack spun around in his chair, “I actually met a guy, undergrad on the hockey team.” 

Alexei jumped forward and hugged him tight, “Is good! You bring him here and I tell you if I think he good. Like papa bear.” He ruffled Jack’s hair. 

“We’re the same age you doof.” He pried Tater’s huge arms off him. “Don’t want to scare him off too quick. He’s tiny, you’re huge.” 

 

Alexei patted his gut and eyed the three wrapped sandwiches on his desk, “I’m just growing boy Zimboni. Big bones. Tall bones.” 

They both laughed and Jack added, “Me too.” 

Jack pivoted back to his notebook and wrote up a few planned reactions. Once he’d looked up references for each and figured out where to get the reagents he turned back to Tater. 

“Anyone new and exciting in your life Mr. Mashkov?” He patted the massive shoulder in front of him. 

Alexei didn’t turn around, but responded, “Nah, nothing since Natasha few months ago.”   
Jack went to respond, but Tater continued, spinning around, “Oh actually went on date with cute blonde boy few day ago, was only here for short time and is closet so going nowhere at moment” He smirked. 

Jack mumbled out, “A… blonde boy?” 

“Yes, was blonde.” Tater looked confused. “What’s wrong Zimboni?” 

“I guess I just didn’t know you were into guys. That’s all.” Alexei shrugged and chuckled. 

“Thought you knew. Do you not have the gaydar? Is thing, no?” 

Jack burst out laughing. He patted Alexei on the knee. “Oui, it is. I guess mine is just bad.” 

Alexei grabbed his shoulder and raised a fist with his free hand, shouted “We are not straight!” 

After a few seconds, one of their other labmates, Benji, stoically said, “You don’t say. I’m so surprised.” Alexei stuck his head out of the desk cubicle and shouted back through cupped hands, “Just jealous, Benji!” 

Jack smiled at him and shook his head, “You’re too much.” Looking back at his notebook he continued, “So are you going to see this blonde boy again, Alexei?” 

He shrugged, “If he text me, sure. Not going chase every boy.” He play punched Jack in the shoulder, “And your boy? See him again? What he look like?” Jack pulled out his phone and thumbed through Facebook, navigating to Eric’s profile. They weren’t friends yet, but most of Eric’s pictures were public. He handed Alexei the phone. Alexei swiped through a few of the pictures and smiled. “Is very cute. Also blonde! Looks very small for hockey team! Almost like puck.” Jack smirked and moved to grab the phone back, but Alexei lifted it out of reach. “You should friend him. Already know each other.” 

Jack shook his head and stood to grab the phone from Alexei, “I don’t want to rush things. I just met him. I don’t even know if he likes me yet, so I’m taking it slow.”

“You always slow, chemistry, boys. Doesn’t matter.” Tater chuckled, self-satisfied. 

Jack turned back to his work, “Not even going to dignify that with a response.” His phone buzzed a second later. 

[Alexei]: Just mad bc I’m right )))) :-* :D 8) 

Jack put his phone down and pulled on his labcoat and goggles to go fetch chemicals. 

Alexei finished drawing up the structure of his starting material in his notebook when he felt his phone buzz. “Probably Zimboni.” He pulled it out and the screen awoke, displaying the message. “Or not.” He chuckled at the contact nickname he’d set: белокурый, blonde

[белокурый]: Hey man, just found out I’ll be moving to the area. Maybe we can meet up again sometime.   
[Alexei]: Hey :)) Sound good. Had fun last time :p )))) When you get here?   
[белокурый]: Probably in a few weeks. My job relocated me. Might want to do a hotel again for privacy though.   
[Alexei]: Is okay. Dont matter 2 me. :))) 

Jack returned soon after with a small tray of amber chemical bottles. When he walked in, Alexei was at his fume hood in full regalia, flame-drying a flask. A few balloons sat off to the side, each with a crudely drawn cartoon face. Jack quickly set up a column to purify his last reaction from the day before. While the silica equilibrated, he weighed out reagents for his first reaction of the day. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, but opted to ignore it until he was finished. 

“Hey, Jack, is okay if I play some music? NHK has me in mood for dad rock.” Alexei grinned at him. 

Jack changed out the test tube on his column and smirked, “Okay… as long as you don’t play JUST ZZ top. Mix it up a little.” Alexei held his phone in front of Jack’s face. There was a Spotify playlist open titled “Dad Rock - Jack approvv” Jack nodded and chuckled. “Good.” 

Before long, it was lunch time. 

Jack pulled out his phone, realizing he’d forgotten to check his notification from earlier. 

[Kent]: Hey Jack, when I get back in town can we meet up for coffee? I just want to clear the air. Don’t want things to be awkward for either of us. -k

Jack sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

[Jack]: Sure. Sounds good to me. Just text me when you get settled in. 

He took a bite of his sandwich just as his phone pinged again. He sighed until he noticed the name. 

[Bitty]: Hiya :) Hope your day has only gone uphill from the fall!   
[Jack]: So far so good. One reaction purified, another set up. How about you?  
[Bitty]: Ugh, just stuck in my Nature in American Art History class. Stupid breadth requirements.  
[Jack]: That honestly sounds like a cool class!   
[Bitty]: Who ARE you? :p


	6. Chapter 6

Alexei twirled his fork in the spaghetti on the plate, taking a huge bite before asking, “How is the Bittle? I am surprise not dating yet.” Two had passed since Jack and Bitty had started talking. The two still had not gone on a proper date and Jack was acutely aware of this. 

“Things are going good, we talk pretty much every day. Texting too.” Jack avoided eye contact with Tater, dusting some dried parmesan on his pasta. “I like him a lot.”

Alexei cocked an eyebrow. “But…? Something you not saying. C’mon Zimboni, you can talk to me. We buddies.” 

Jack sighed deeply, “Well, I’m a bit worried that he hasn’t suggested we go out on a date yet.” He took a few bites of bread. “I mean all the times we’ve run into each other have been really nice, I guess I just don’t know what to think.” 

Alexei shrugged, “You worry too much about small thing.” Reaching his giant hand across the table he patted Jack on the shoulder, “If you concern, why not just ask him out on date? Maybe he is in same boat, you know?” 

Jack smiled weakly, “Yeah, you have a good point. Maybe I just need to work up the gusto to do it.” 

A few hours later, after finishing a purification Jack noticed a text from Larissa. 

[Larissa]: Zimms, what’s the good word? Anything from your blonde wonder boy today?   
[Jack]: Not yet, talked with Alexei earlier about asking him out on date.   
[Larissa]: Uh, what about the times you guys have had coffee together? I’d call those dates.  
[Jack]: I don’t know, those were all times where we happened to be going in the same direction not something I planned out.   
[Larissa]: I’d just go for it then if it will make you feel better about it. He seems to definitely be interested, otherwise he wouldn’t be texting you. Y’know?”   
[Jack]: True, I don’t why I have doubts, but I wish I didn’t.   
[Larissa]: Dude, you’re hot and awesome. Anyone would be lucky to date you. 

Jack rolled his eyes and put the phone away only or an email notification to buzz a moment later. 

[Email]

From: Gerard Montpeluche  
Subject: Re: Chem 107

Jack,

One of my TAs is having trouble with immigration services on her way back from China, would you be available to cover her lab sections for Chem 207 (MW 2-5 PM, Hamilton 202)? 

Much appreciated  
\- g

It was Monday at 1PM. Jack sighed and walked over to his fume hood to take stock of the reactions he had running. Alexei was at his hood also. “Why long face, Jack?”

“Gerard asked me to cover for one of his TAs for 207. Class starts in…. 50 minutes.” Jack chuckled. “I just have to laugh so I don’t scream.” 

Alexei changed out his collection tube before chiming in with, “Sounds like classic Gerard, am not surprise. Have fun with the kids! Make sure to smile. Nobody likes grumpy TA.” 

Jack gave a fake smirk before waltzing out. 

 

After jogging over to Hamilton, Jack burst into the empty student lab. An instructor’s manual had been left on the center bench. He pulled on his labcoat and goggles and thumbed through to today’s experiment. Didn’t look too involved, thankfully. Biochemistry wasn’t his specialty. He did some rounds of the lab to check that there were enough supplies for the class, then wrote up some notes on the whiteboard at the front of the class to introduce the experiment. Before long, the first few students began to trickle in: a group of what Jack thought were freshmen or sophomores based on how young they looked. The last two students to stroll in were two guys in Samwell hockey jerseys, both handsome tall and blessed with powerful cheekbones. He looked through the roster and noticed two names, both seniors: Justin Oluransi and Adam Birkholtz. They were joking loudly with each other. 

Jack walked to the front of the classroom. “Hello guys. As you can tell I’m not Stacy, your usual TA. Professor Montpeluche asked me to sub in today. My name is Jack Zimmermann. Today you’re going to be extracting yeast alcohol dehydrogenase from baker’s yeast, then we’ll monitor the kinetics of 1-octanol oxidation by your extracts. I’m going to assume that you all have written the procedure into your notebooks and have read through it already. All the materials are over on the bench to my left and I will be walking around throughout. Does anybody have any questions?” 

Adam Birkholtz’s hand shot up, “Just one. Are you related to “Bad Bob” Zimmermann?” 

Jack sighed, “Yes, I’m his son.” He paused for a moment, “Alright, since there are no relevant questions, you can all get started.” 

The first step in the procedure was to to grind up the baker’s yeast with a mortar and pestle: foolproof. Jack walked around quickly eyeing each of the pairs of students. Most were having no trouble with it, but as he walked by the two hockey players he noticed Birkholtz making a dick out of the yeast on the lab bench while Oluransi was furiously grinding and glancing back at his (very detailed) notes. Jack chirped at him, “I don’t remember seeing yeast dicks on the prep, but maybe I just missed it.” 

The giant blonde boy looked over his shoulder and laughed, “Maybe not, but it should be. I’m reading between the lines.” He pointed to and tapped his temple, “Next level bro.” 

Jack rolled his eyes, “So why aren’t you helping your partner?”

Adam looked over, “Oh Ransom? He’s a machine, man. Carefully balanced ecosystem. Don’t want to mess with his mojo.” Jack frowned. “But, I’m going to do the next step.” 

“Right answer.” Jack chuckled to himself as he walked away. 

No injuries or accidents in the first 30 minutes. Next, the students needed to suspend their ground up yeast in phosphate buffer and sonicate to get the protein into solution. Then they’d centrifuge. 

Despite Birkholtz messing around earlier, Jack noticed that he and Oluransi were the first pair to make their way over to the centrifuge. Jack had explained how to use the machine earlier, but wanted to supervise just in case. They had two tubes, seemed okay, both looked about equally full, good. They closed the cover and turned the old centrifuge on. Five minutes passed and nothing wrong, a pleasant surprise. Birkholtz noticed Jack lurking in the background and whispered to his partner, “Yo, dude, isn’t our TA that guy who rides the bus with Bitty from out front of the house?”   
Oluransi looked back at Jack and nodded, “Yeah man, I think so. Looks enough like him.” 

Jack glanced up at the large clock hanging above the lab door. 4 PM He gave instructions for the last section of the lab, salting the protein out of water into PEG. Other than one student who spilled some PEG on her labcoat, there weren’t any issues. Jack felt his phone buzz in his pocket. 

[Bitty]: I heard from Holster and Ransom that you were TA’ing their chemistry lab today. I hope they’re behaving themselves!   
[Jack]: Well, whichever one of them is Adam made a dick out of yeast grains, other than that it’s been okay.   
[Bitty]: Oh my, of course he would. He studies econ. I don’t even know why he’s in that class. Probably just to be with Ransom. Those boys are joined at the hip I swear!   
[Jack]: Well, that makes sense based on which one is doing most of the work. Haha. 

Before long the lab had finished up and all the students had left. Jack walked around to check for any trash before turning of the lights. He felt his phone buzz again. 

[Kent]: Hey man, I’m moving into my apartment today, North side of town. You free to do coffee tomorrow so we could chat?  
[Jack]: Hm, yeah I think that should work. I have a meeting in the morning, but I can do it around 2. Let’s do it at the big Starbucks on 5th and Tollhouse St.   
[Kent]: Sweet dude.


	7. Chapter 7

Jack walked down the tree-lined road to Starbucks. He’d had a productive morning, and skipped lunch to set up another reaction before leaving. Alexei ran down to the NMR when Jack left, so he just left a note. The Starbucks was shockingly empty for mid-day, there were only a few of the large armchairs occupied. He looked around, keeping his eyes peeled for Kent’s platinum blonde hair, but no sign of him yet. 

“Sir, can I get a drink started for you?” sang the painfully chipper barista. Jack looked up at the menu and thought long enough that the barista repeated, “Sir?” He jolted back to reality. 

“I’ll have a large strawberry açai refresher,” Jack thought for a second, “And a medium caramel brûlée latte. Thank you.” The eager barista told him the total and asked for his name. “Jack.” He realized once the drinks were ready she must’ve noticed his accent. The cups read, Jacques. Jack made his way over to two of the large armchairs settled next to a bay window overlooking the street. He noticed a Dodge Charger turn onto Tollhouse and park across the street. Kent climbed out of the driver seat in his typical getup: a light flannel, backwards baseball cap, skinny jeans, garish, bright white sneakers. Kent was smiling and pulled out his phone, he hadn’t noticed Jack through the window.

[Kent]: Zimms, I just got here. ETA?   
[Jack]: Already inside, I’m in the armchairs. I got you the latte you had last time you were in town.  
[Kent]: ;-* 

Jack looked out the window and noticed Kent smile widely right after Jack had sent the text. A moment later he was walking through the towering plate glass doors. “Hey Jack. How’s it going?” He held out a hand for a handshake which Jack stood to meet. 

“Good, come on, sit down. Here you go.” Jack slid the latte over to Kent and took a sip of his own drink. 

“Thanks.” Kent leaned back, crossing his legs and took a long sip of the latte. “So.” 

“So.” Jack fidgeted with his cup, avoiding direct eye contact with Ken. He began, “I just want to apologize first, it wasn’t right of me to cut you off so abruptly after my scare. It doesn’t make it right, but I was trying to give myself space to recover.” 

Kent clenched his cup tightly, “It hurt a lot. I understand, but it hurt.” 

6 years ago 

A younger Kent is sitting in the lobby of a hospital, alone. Alicia Zimmermann’s heels clicked as she walked down the hallway, her eyeliner had run into deep black rivulets on her cheeks. Her perfectly styled hair had fallen into haphazard strands draped across her face. Kent looked up and noticed her coming towards him. She silently took a seat next to him and put a hand on his hand. He immediately started crying. 

“I feel like such a fucking failure. I didn’t know. I didn’t see it. God damn it.” He gripped her hand tightly with his other. Alicia knelt down in front him and wrapped her arms around him. “Kent, honey, this was not your fault. Jack will be okay. The doctors told Bob and I that he is stable and resting.” 

Kent buried his head into her shoulder, feeling the tips of her hair brush his bare neck. “People don’t just do that for no reason. They don’t.” He felt Alicia run her long, slender fingers through his hair. She slipped a hand under his chin and lifted his face up to look at her. He noticed that her eyes were wet with tears as much as his were. 

Her eyes lingered just out of eye contact, “Jack and you…, he told Bob and I about you two, not long ago.” Kent jerked back, his brow was furrowed despite the tears hanging in his eyes. She placed a hand on his shoulder, “I know, you are probably not happy with him for that, it was not his secret to tell. Bob and I had a talk with him about that.” Kent said nothing, he couldn’t even look at her. Alicia continued, “We didn’t know about him until then either.” 

Kent looked up to her, “He didn’t tell you earlier?” Alicia shook her head. 

“Do not worry about this getting out anywhere you do not want it. Bob and I will say nothing. I promise you that.” 

Kent’s voice wavered, “T-thank you.” 

Two weeks later 

Alicia heard the phone ring and quickly walked over to grab it. “Bonjour?... Oh Kent, hello.” 

“Can I talk to Jack? I haven’t heard anything from him since he was discharged.” He heard nothing but silence for a few seconds before Alicia responded. 

“Kent, I’m sorry we didn’t tell you. Jack is in a treatment facility near us in Quebec. The doctor has advised no contact for the first few weeks, even from Bob and I only talk to him once a week.” 

Kent hung up the phone. 

A month later 

[Kent]: Jack, please just talk to me. I’ve been trying to reach you forever. Just let me know you’re okay.   
Kent waited days for a response before it finally arrived. 

[Jack]: I’m okay. I’m not ready to go back to the way things were. 

Kent reread the text about a hundred times before composing a response. 

[Kent]: When do you think you will be?   
[Jack]: I don’t know.

Kent closed the text window and cried. 

A few months later - NHL draft season 

Kent was in the locker room for the Aces. He’d just been chosen to join the team. One of the senior members of the team walked by in next to nothing, and patted him heavily on the shoulder. “Congrats Parser. Welcome to the team man.” 

Kent robotically said back, “Thanks man. Look forward to it.” He was paging through news stories of the day, one of the most prominent being Jack Zimmermann, From NHL Draft Pick to Student. He clicked the piece open. 

AP (Toronto) - Former NHL draft frontrunner Jack Laurent Zimmermann, son of NHL legend Bad Bob Zimmermann, was once widely regarded as the creme de la creme of hockey’s future alongside juniors teammate and close friend Kent Parson, but that all changed with a close call 8 months ago today. 

Kent paused for a second, rubbing his temples. He skipped forward a few paragraphs to get past the media boilerplate of Jack’s overdose. 

After being released from treatment, Zimmermann chose to apply to colleges and has accepted an offer from McGill University to study chemistry. Zimmermann’s family live quite close to the McGill campus and it is thought this was a major factor in Zimmermann’s choice of college. He has told the AP via email that he is officially retiring from hockey effective immediately and plans to focus on his studies. 

He reread the line again and again: retiring from hockey effective immediately. Kent threw his phone across the locker room into one of the sheet metal lockers, producing a sharp, piercing clang. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!!!!” 

Three months later

Kent felt his phone buzz in his pocket as he stuffed his face after a long team workout.   
[Jack]: Good luck in the big game today. You’ll kill it. 

Kent scowled, waiting 20 minutes before texting back. 

[Kent]: Thnx. 

A series of chance meetings at parties or team reunions thawed the ice of the relationship slightly, but the scars were still deep. Despite this, they never discussed the years they had together. The firsts they’d shared, none of it, and Kent was still reeling. 

Present day

Kent wiped his eyes on his flannel. “God, I didn’t think I’d be this much of a wreck after all this time.” 

Jack wiped his eyes too, “I’m so sorry Kent. I didn’t realize how much I’d hurt you. I thought you didn’t care.” 

Kent chuckled, “More like I cared too much, asshole.” He punched Jack in the shoulder. They chatted for another hour or so about everything from which places to go to for the best sandwiches, to whether or not Dunkin Donuts was a suitable replacement for Tim Hortons. Kent’s phone rang and he saw a message from the Falconers coach calling a meeting. 

“Sorry to run, but bossman is calling us all over to the stadium to meet the team. Thanks for doing this Jack. Really.” He smiled. 

“No, honestly Kent, thank you so much.” He went into hug Kent and patted him on the back a few times after a tight hug. 

Kent walked through the tall glass doors and drove off out of view. Jack smiled and sighed.


	8. Chapter 8

Jack walked back into lab and noticed Alexei was standing at his hood. “Zimboni! How are you? Miss you during lunch. Today was meatloaf and gravy at cafeteria across street. Ate two plates!” 

 

Jack chuckled, “I’d expect nothing less from you.” 

“Where’d you go?” Alexei pushed over a rack of test tubes to make way for a second rack. “Was lonely, Benji is no fun. Doesn’t sing along with me to music. Party pooper.” 

 

Without turning around Benji cracked back, “Maybe if you played something from the 2000s I’d be more interested.” 

Alexei turned and gestured to Benji while looking at Jack, “You see? No fun.” He noticed Jack’s face was a little red as he walked by. Pulling off his gloves he followed Jack to the desks. He plopped back down into the chair. “What is wrong? You don’t look good. Stressed.” 

 

Jack shook his head, “No, not now. Got coffee with a guy I used to be involved with back in high school. We met up to talk through some of our unresolved issues before he moves into the area for work. That’s all.” 

“Is good.” He patted Jack on the back, “Proud of you man.” Alexei smiled, stood up, and walked back to his hood, but not before turning up Bon Jovi to piss off Benji. 

Jack felt his phone buzz in his pocket. 

[Bitty]: You’ll be happy to know that Holster and Ransom are currently camped out in the Haus kitchen working on their lab report. Ransom has about 10 pages of notes, meanwhile I had to give Holster a pen so he didn’t write in blunt pencil. I swear, these boys.  
[Jack]: Haha, thanks for that. There’s few things worse in this world than reading lab reports scrawled in blunt pencil.   
[Bitty]: Do you have to grade all these yourself?   
[Jack]: TAs usually grade assignments from our own sections for lab courses. So yes, I have the pleasure of going through these with a fine-toothed comb.   
[Bitty]: Oh my goodness! Don’t envy you there, mister!   
[Jack]: Hey, at least I don’t have classwork anymore ;)   
[Bitty]: Rude. 

Jack started to type Hey, Bitty would you like to go to din- , but deleted it. He wanted desperately to go out with Bitty, but he was tired of always making the first move and getting burned for it. He shook his head and turned to grab his notebook, paging through notes from a meeting with Gerard earlier discussing potential solutions to a difficult reaction. Jack had tried five or six conditions to make this substrate, but nothing had worked. As always, Gerard was an unstoppable font of ideas.   
A week later 

Jack was visiting Samwell’s chemistry library to find a copy of some interesting articles from Soviet chemistry journals that had thus far evaded digitization. It was exciting to Jack, nearly 50 years of chemistry that was uncatalogued in all the major databases beyond a rudimentary text summary. His advisor at McGill had once said, “When you think you have a new idea in chemistry, you’ll often find you haven’t done a close enough reading of the Soviet literature.” The library had some translated volumes, but being best friends with a native Russian speaker was a huge boon. 

[Jack]: I’m reading some of your homeland’s chem literature. ;) If looking at structures while paging through paragraphs of Cyrillic counts.   
[Alexei]: So proud )))) Let me know you find that today.   
[Jack]: Find what?   
[Alexei]: Precedent for reaction idea you talk about in subgroup. You mentioned it in Zhurnal Organischeskoi Khimii. :)))) Remember? :P ))))) Priyatno videt', kak vy pytayetes'.   
[Jack]: I see that you’ve written that last bit in Latin script so I can’t just Google translate. Tricky.   
[Alexei]: I am what they call trick master. :) ;) 

Jack grabbed a pair of the massive red volumes and brought them over to the checkout desk. The attendant smiled at him and opened the covers to pull out the stamp cards. She raised her eyebrows and chuckled. “Well! I’m glad to see someone is using these! The last checkout before you was in 1987!” Jack laughed nervously and grabbed the books, tucking them under his arm. 

“Thank you as always, Beverley. Have a great day.” He waved to her as he strolled towards the entrance. The library was in the same building as the bulk of the teaching labs, and while walking down to ground level, Jack peered into the labspace, noticing a group of young students furiously taking notes while the TA spoke. Distracted, he bumped right into Bitty who was buried in his phone while walking through the halls. Jack took the harder fall despite being nearly twice Bitty’s mass, falling to his knees as the thick red books slipped from under his arm. Bitty was knocked back onto his butt, but largely unscathed. Jack’s glasses had someone stayed on, allowing him to see Bitty once he wheeled around. 

“Bitty?”


	9. Chapter 9

Jack was still reeling from hitting the ground. He wheeled his head around, expecting nothing but the typical fog of life without glasses, but there, he saw with perfect clarity, Bitty. “Bitty?” He managed to choke out in disbelief. What on earth was Bitty, an American Studies major focusing on food doing in this building? Jack couldn’t remember ever seeing anything but chemistry or biology taught in Hamilton. 

Bitty was still standing, but nursing the elbow that had made impact. When he heard his name he looked down at the much larger boy he’d managed to knock clean to the flood. “Jack! Oh my goodness.” He bent down and took Jack’s hand to help him to his feet. “How on earth did lil’ ol me get you on the ground?” 

Jack chuckled, “I’m famously clumsy. I told you when I tripped on the sidewalk outside your house. Thankfully, I’ve avoided any serious accidents in lab. I seem to meet my quota just by walking around.” Lifting the sleeve of his t-shirt, Jack unveiled a blue, green and yellow nebula splayed out on his skin. “That one is from tripping up the stairs last week.” 

Bitty shook his head with a smile, “You, Mister, are what they call a mess!” Jack smirked back and bent down to collect the massive Soviet volumes. 

“Unfortunately, I did not have the wherewithal or coordination for figure skating, just wasn’t meant to be. Even though I quit, my current build would be pretty well-suited for hockey, nice and husky.” He patted his belly and laughed. “Ah well.” 

Bitty’s smile faded, “Do you miss it? Playing competitively?” 

Jack shrugged, “Some days more than others. I really liked the camaraderie and playing, but not enough to make a career out of it.” 

“Well that’s a super mature decision to make right outta high school! I had NO idea what I wanted to do,” he chuckled shyly, “some days I STILL don’t. Just riding life by the seat of the pants.” Jack started to say something, but stopped himself. Bitty noticed the spine of the books Jack was holding and exclaimed, “Ни за что!” 

Jack’s eyes widened, he didn’t think it was possible to speak Russian with a southern twang, but Bitty had somehow managed it. “W-wait, you speak Russian?” 

Bitty laughed and playslapped Jack on the shoulder, “Oh sweetie, barely! I can only say the phrases I picked up from my old figure skating coach.” Bitty deepened his voice and swuared his shoulders, “A deadly beauty from behind the Iron Curtain’, that’s what Coach used to say.” 

“She spoke in the third person about herself?” Jack wracked his brain from interactions with Alexei, but had never come across that language barrier quirk.   
Bitty snapped back, astonished, “W-what? Oh, no Coach is my dad. He coached the football team at my high school and my mom and I both called him that.” 

Jack nodded, “Yeah, I don’t have any nicknames for my parents. I’m not sure what my dad would do if I called him ‘Bad Bob’. He’d probably burst out laughing.” 

Bitty looked at his watch for a moment, “Oh! I don’t want to keep you. Were you on your way somewhere? I’m all done for the day.” 

It took Jack a moment to process before he responded, “Just work, but I haven’t taken lunch yet. I ran to the library to get these.” 

Bitty smiled weakly, “Oh, well I’ll let you get on your way to lunch then.” He waved to Jack and started to walk away, but Jack caught his shoulder with his free hand. It wasn’t a hard grip, just firm enough to catch Bitty’s attention. 

“Bitty, wait.” He turned his head to meet Jack’s large blue eyes staring back at him. “I didn’t mean… I didn’t mean that I had something to do. I wanted to ask if you had lunch, and if not if you’d join me.” 

Bitty’s whole face smiled, “It just so happens that I do not have lunch plans today.” 

Jack blushed and broke eye contact, “Sorry that was awkward, I’m decidedly terrible at flirting.”   
Bitty grabbed his chin and brought their eyes to level again. 

“Awkward? That was smooth.” 

Jack laughed heartily, “If you think that was smooth, I shudder to think what you define as awkward.” 

Bitty stroked his chin as if he had a non-existent beard. “Well, imagine if the flirting was as spontaneously clumsy as you on seemingly flat surfaces.” 

Jack shook his finger and head at Bitty, “Tsk, tsk, well-played. Harsh, but well-played. I respect that.” 

“So where are we going to for today’s lunch date?” Bitty grabbed Jack’s hand and swung his arm playfully. 

“Hmm, how about the cafeteria across the road near the fountain? That’s usually where I go.” 

“Never had it!”   
“They have a little bit of everything. Kind of buffet style.”   
Bitty laughed, “Well, I’m sold.”


	10. Chapter 10

Alexei felt his phone buzz assertively in the pocket of his lab coat. Leaning over to turn off the air for his column, he twisted the stopcock to closed and pulled the phone out.

[Kent]: Hey, I’m in town this weekend, want to meet up? Ripping a glove off he clumsily typed out with his thumb.

[Alexei]: Sure. Sound good. I should be gree most eveninh. Am excited. )))))  
He appreciated how patient Kent was with his, at times, tenuous grasp of English colloquialisms; working in a lab with a French-Canadian and silent Benji didn’t help things. The lab door opened and he noticed Jack strolling in with a big smile on his face.  
Alexei began his usual loud greeting/accosting of Jack. “Zimboni! You look so happy, what is occasion? You finally get Chan-Lam coupling to work on horrible quinazoline?”  
Jack laughed, “Nope, not yet. Excellent guess though, this is exactly how happy I’ll be when I get that to work.”

“When. Someone is feeling very full of oats today.” He turned back to his hood and reopened the column’s stopcock and began collecting his next fraction. “So if you have not solved chemistry, why are you this happy? Should I be nervous?” Jack pulled on his goggles and walked up to his hood., smirking.

Turning on the lights, he moved a few flasks out the way, digging in his dirty glassware bin for a stir bar. “Well, do you remember those reactions I was trying to find references for in Zh. Obs. Khim.?”  
Alexei threw up his hands and groaned, “You get me hyped for old Soviet journal find? Not cool.”  
Jack chuckled, “Just let me finish my story, Tater.” He grumbled a bit before Jack continued. “The cute blonde hockey player, Bitty, I ran into him, literally.”

“Ran.. into him literally? Why? How?”

“His class on food history is in Hamilton for some reason. I didn’t even notice him walking down the hallway and walked straight into him.”

Tater laughed, “So you leveled poor small boy?”

“More like he leveled me. I fell flat on my ass and dropped the books I’d checked out, he only stumbled a bit and caught himself on the railing.”

“You are truly graceful like ballerina Zimboni.”

Jack grinned, “Well, anyway, after that we talked for a bit and we ended up going to lunch together. A lunch date.”

“Did he know it was date, or is this like times you flattered by nice boy and think it is date?” Jack grabbed his bottle of isopropanol and squirted it at Alexei, catching him on the nape of his neck.  
“Ah!, cold!”

“Yes, he knew it was a date, he called it that after I suggested lunch. We even held hands for a bit on the walk there.”

“Aww, so cute. I cannot handle it. So, verdict is good? You go to lunch with him again?” Alexei glanced over at Jack out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Jack smiling intently while working.  
Jack nodded to himself, “Yes, I think so. He seemed very engaged the whole lunch and he asked to add me on Facebook afterwards. A step more than phone number exchange.”

“Good for you, Jack. I’m happy you had good date. You needed one bad.” Alexei chuckled, “Almost had to intervene and set something up myself.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not looking for a sugar daddy at the moment, otherwise I’d have definitely come to you.”  
Tater flushed red, “Was one……okay two time! He was very nice and handsome, was not interested for his money.” He grabbed his isopropanol bottle and squirted an unsuspecting Jack back. “Besides, I have date this week with boy who is not sugar daddy. Same age as us!”

Jack raised an eyebrow, “Someone we both know? At Samwell?”

“Someone we both know, yes, but not at Samwell.”  
Jack sighed, “Well that narrows it down given the size of our social spheres outside chemistry.”  
Tater laughed, “Suppose you are right. Anyway, cannot tell you more than this at moment. He is in closet and does not want to be out at moment.”  
Jack’s face dropped, “Tater, those kinds of relationships are really, really hard.” He set down his TLC plate on the benchtop, “I mean I had one along those lines while I was in Juniors” He sighed deeply, “And we broke up after I came out because I couldn’t do the secrecy and he was afraid of getting pegged for gay.”

Tater frowned, “Not all stories like that Jack. Besides, this is just for date, not going to propose here and now. Is just fun.” Jack looked at him apologetically.

“I’m sorry Alexei, I just don’t want to see you get hurt by this guy, If you want to talk about it, I’m here man. You have endured me gushing about Eric for the past weeks.”

Tater’s smile returned, “You are right, I do deserve to talk about him after the Bittle. Okay, okay, I give you one detail. He is blonde like Bittle.”  
Jack laughed, “I’m picturing a 6’ 5” Swedish man, because that seems like a match for how tall you are and the blondeness.”  
“Maybe so. Will have to stay tuned to find out, yes?” Alexei’s phone buzzed on their shared bench and Jack leaned over to check who it was for him.  
“Tater, I think you have a text from him. The contact name is in Russian, but I think it says blonde? Very creative.”  
Tater spun around and grabbed the phone, “Oh let me see, is him! Your Russian is getting better, Zimboni. You could say my #impact.”  
“Meanwhile I’ve created a monster by introducing you to hashtags when we met.”  
“Perhaps, but I am your monster.”  
Alexei looked down at his phone after quickly dialing in his passcode.

[Kent]: Hey man, I can meet tonight if you’re game, but gotta avoid these few bars so my teammates don’t see me. Unrelated, but what’s your research lab again? I want to see your scientist photo :devilsmile:

[Alexei]: Is good with me. Just tell me where to pick you up and I will. Also, naughty, naughty. )))) I’m in Montpeluche research group. )))) Hoppe you enjoy.

Alexei and Jack bantered back and forth while working for a while before the phone buzzed again.  “It’s your blonde Adonis again, Alexei. So popular.” He handed the phone over.

[Kent]:  _ You work with Jack Zimmermann?   _

[Alexei]:   _?  Why,? You think he’s as handsome as me?  _ __


End file.
